A shark attack has been suspected after a surf board was recovered, but no surfer found at a beach near Esperance in Wester Australia. The surfer has gone missing after receiving a shark bite. According to the Police, witnesses at Kelp Beds beach in Wylie Bay saw a man being attacked before 11am local time.
The recovered surfboard bore obvious signs of a shark attack. The state’s head Mark McGowan said another surfer tried pulling the victim away from the shark.
“There were approximately six to eight surfers that were in the water at the time and a number of bystanders on the beach as well that all witnessed the attack,” Senior Sargeant Justin Tarasinski told The Guardian. Two search crews including two surf life saving jet skis.
There have been shark attacks in the past at the beach. In 2017, a 17 year-old died after a shark bite; in 2014, a surfer lost an arm and another hand in a shark attack. Witnesses say they had seen a shark about 2.5-3 metres big in the water moments before the attack. 2020 reported six shark-bite related deaths in Australia. On Thursday, a drone camera shows footage of pro surfer Matt Wilkinson’s narrow escape from a shark off the coast of Ballina in northern New South Wales.
